Page 139 of Unbroken

With a wince, she slid off my lap, my half-soft cock slipping free and immediately missing the warmth of her body. She padded over to a stack of boxes on the opposite side of our bedroom. Peering around for a moment, she leaned over all ofthem and stood back up with her journal in her hand. She grabbed the shirt I’d discarded on the floor and pulled it over her head, then flipped through the worn pages until she found what she was looking for.

I tugged my joggers back on and curiously eyed the journal when she dropped it in front of me. She’d never let me read any of her entries before, so I was surprised when she pointed at the open page.

“I’ll be right back, but read this one,” she instructed. I glanced down at the page before me and only looked up in time to see her closing the bathroom door behind her.

Scanning the page, I examined the neat yet curly quality of her handwriting, although it was clear she’d been writing hastily the way each word slid into the next, only stopping for periods and other punctuation.

At the top of the page, the entry was dated more than two months before, and her words began on the next line.

The first time I saw Devon, it wasn’t love at first sight. But I knew he would be an important person in my life. From the moment we met, I knew he was kind and thoughtful and sweet. Watching him interact with his friends for only a short time and those traits were obvious. I grew to love him in the way a flower grows in a garden. Planted a little prematurely, the love bloomed into friendship that I would cherish above almost anything else. But my own boundaries kept me from exploring it more.

It took a near-death experience to realize he was it for me. He was the one, my person, my soulmate, however you want to say it, it was him.

Even without being there, he’d managed to sink into my bones and foster a love so fierce, I didn’t know something like it could exist.

Then I’d come back to Austin and come to another realization: that it was too late. Watching him be with someone else was excruciating. But I only ever wanted him to be happy. Above all else, if he was happy, I could manage the heartbreak. Somehow.

I was never one to root for the end of a relationship—that was karma I couldn’t afford. But when I learned that they’d ended things, it took everything in me not to freaking cheer. That was why I couldn’t wait another second before I told him, or better yet, showed him exactly how I felt.

And it was the best decision I’d ever made.

I love the way Devon loves me. It’s a quiet, intentional love that he shows through every little word and action. It’s the way he always finds me in a room. It’s the way he leaves the light on every night even though it’s harder for him to sleep. It’s the way he carries cherry ChapStick in his pocket and builds me new chairs. It’s the way he always announces himself before he enters a room.

It’s the way he reassures me at every turn and never appears annoyed with how much I might require it.

He makes a promise and keeps it. He’s promised to love me through it all, and I know he’ll keep that one, too. I never thought I’d deserve a love like this even if I found it. But every day, in his sweet, quiet way, he makes me believe that I do. I only hope I make him feel that way, too.

I didn’t realize I was crying until a tear slipped free and stained the page. I dabbed at the wet spot with my thumb, but it didn’t do any good. Dropping the journal back down on the bed in front of me. I wiped at my eyes and drew in a shaky breath.

I stared down at the journal, wondering what else was between those pages when Blakely’s hands appeared in front of me. She closed the book and pushed it to the side, pushing my shoulders back and straddling me, taking her rightful place back on my lap. There weren’t any tears left, but she grazed the place where they’d fallen down my cheeks with her thumbs.

It was a blessing to have her weight on top of me and my arms around her.

“That entire journal and the several I filled before it are mostly dominated by two men. One of them tried to destroy my life. He wanted to leave me broken and a shell of the person Iwas before. But the other, he found some way to love all the fragmented pieces left behind.”

Speaking felt difficult, but somehow, I managed to clear my throat as I clasped her cheek with one hand and braced the other at the nape of her neck. “You already know you’re not broken, sweetheart. But I’ll love every piece of you for as long as you’ll let me.”

A confident, unwavering smile graced her lips, and I wanted to taste it. I leaned forward and brushed our lips together just as she said, “I don’t want anything less than the rest of our lives.”

“Me neither,” I agreed.

EPILOGUE

Blakely

The doorto Murphy’s Law was still heavy but much easier to open than the first time I’d attempted it months earlier.

I tugged it open, but Devon quickly stepped up behind me, grabbing the wood and pulling it open the rest of the way. He smiled down at me, and I smiled right the hell back. Because I couldn’t stop. Not when I had everything I ever wanted. It still felt like a dream every once in a while. Like one day I’d wake up and realize the nightmares were my real life, and everything that happened since I’d moved back to Austin was a dream.

But then Devon smiled at me or touched me, and I knew my dream was my reality.

Out of the basement and into my life.

The sound of low rock music, laughter, and clinking glasses greeted us as we stepped through the doors. It was only an hour after opening, so the place wasn’t too crowded yet. People were gathered near the pool tables and around the high-top tables off to the right. And as usual, the bar in the center of the room was packed with patrons.

Grant, the new-ish bartender who’d texted me a few times months ago, was the first to spot us. He waved cautiously and glanced over my shoulder at Devon standing behind me. One look and his eyes darted away, back to cleaning the glass in his hands.

A small smile tugged at my lips, and I shook my head. Men were weird.

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